1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to fences and, more particularly, to fences for preventing rodents, vertebrate pests, and other animals from entering an area, such as a garden.
2. Background of Related Art
Many rural and suburban properties throughout the world include a garden. Professional and amateur gardeners spend a great amount time and money in creating and maintaining these gardens. Gardeners raise a variety of plants in their gardens including fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers. These plants, however, can be destroyed by various hungry and mischievous animals, including rabbits, raccoons, groundhogs, and rodents. As a result, an extensive industry has developed a variety of products using mechanical, electrical, chemical, and/or or biological strategies to prevent plant-damaging animals from entering a garden and eating or otherwise damaging plants in the garden. These products, however, are not entirely effective against plant-damaging animals.
Some of the mechanical products for repelling animals include inanimate animal predators and enclosures. The inanimate animal predators are replicas of predatory animals such as hawks or owls, which act as “scarecrows.” These scarecrows can be effective for short durations until the animals learn that the inanimate animal predators pose little or no threat.
The products in the form of enclosures are typically fences that enclose a garden and form an impenetrable barrier against plant-damaging animals. These fences, however, are often not an effective barrier against hungry and clever animals. Absent a total enclosure (e.g., a greenhouse), fences can be scaled or tunneled under by animals. Moreover, these fences are difficult to install and are difficult for gardeners to access.
Garden fences are more effective against animals the greater their height. But taller fences may negatively affect the aesthetics of the garden and block light that is crucial to the healthy growth of plants in the garden.
Alternatively, gardeners can use chemicals to repel plant-damaging animals. These chemicals are typically natural substances such as blood meal and urine or man-made chemicals such as naphtha and Ro-pel, which create an odor that repels certain animals. These chemicals, however, have at least three major drawbacks: (1) they can be offensive to humans because they must be used in substantial amounts to be effective, (2) they are dependant on the direction and magnitude of the wind direction, and (3) they must be frequently applied because they are water-soluble.